Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Stand up, dammit!

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Let me file that under fuck it.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

The lights are all blinking red.

Let there be snark.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

“They all knew.”

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Something Good Open Thread / Fun, Funny, Silly or Happy

Fun, Funny, Silly or Happy

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Waiting is hard.  I was thinking it might be nice for us to put together a collection of links that are fun, funny, silly or happy – a safe place for TaMara and family to go when they could use a break or are in need of a distraction.  Keep a good thought for TaMara’s Dad.

Is anybody with me?

So we don’t end up with a million youtube links that could be to anything, please add a short note with your link to let us know what it is – a Dog jumping on a trampoline, for instance.   You don’t need to write a book about it, unless you want to!

No COVID, no politics, no Trump.

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  3. 3.

    Falling Diphthong

    I often turn to My Modern Met to think peaceable thoughts about art: https://mymodernmet.com

    For entertaining things on Youtube, this performance of O Fortuna with subtitles about tuna (and cartoon cats). It’s amazing how seeing the subtitles causes me to sincerely hear “Gopher tuna! Bring more tuna! Statue of big dog with fleas!”

    youtube.com/watch?v=nIwrgAnx6Q8&t=71s

  6. 6.

    Betty Cracker

    Aw shit, I missed the TaMara thread, so I had to catch up first. Hope her dad is okay!

    I offer for potential amusement this short clip of a hummingbird feeding its impossibly tiny young, plus a link to a longer clip:

    I have so many questions. How on earth did that man gain the hummingbird’s trust to that degree? Is it okay that he’s in such close proximity to the babies? Shouldn’t he leave the birds alone and take video from a distance instead of getting right up in its face like that? Etc. It’s all in French, so maybe he explains!

    Anyhoo, the entire clip is here.

  8. 8.

    Mary G

    Ok, so this bird doing multiple dances to different alarm ringtones is definitely the Twitter content I’m here for.

    Birds, bruh…pic.twitter.com/CVHvBtIStz
    — Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) July 15, 2020

    @Betty Cracker: Some years ago my neighbor had a hummingbird nest (the size of a thimble) about a foot away from their back door and brought everyone they knew to come see it, and the parents didn’t turn a hair. The babies are teeny.

  12. 12.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    You may know that the Assassins creed has recruited warriors throughout time to fight pivotal battles against Evil at crucial points in human history.
    But did you know they recruited kittens?

    youtube.com/watch?v=jnk15Wf6xMU

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    Tired of the wallpaper on your screen?

    Lots of choices of sites, but almost bound to find something to strike your fancy at Wallcoo.

    Also too Digital Blasphemy, however their free offerings have become quite limited as the years have trundled by.

  16. 16.

    JAFD

    ‘Twas discussion of the political leanings of head of Latin food firm recently. One commenter said “You don’t have to use their ‘Adobo’ seasoning, you can make your own, here’s my grandmother’s recipe…”. Yours truly thot “Hmmm, put that together, but leave out the salt, I can use the stuf liberally without getting my doctors mad…”

    Well, ‘celery powder’ is one ingredient to adobo recipe, didn’t have any here, looked for it at Seabra’s (local Portugese/Brazilian supermarkets), didn’t see any (but spice shelves needed restocking).

    Asked my cooking maven lady friends how to get it, they weren’t sure. So, fellow jackals, am seeking your help.

    BTW, the recipe
    4 parts garlic powder
    2 parts paprika
    2 parts cumin
    2 parts celery powder
    2 parts chili powder
    1 part ginger
    (8 parts salt)

    Advice on other seasoning mixtures welcome.

  18. 18.

    Yutsano

    twitter.com/swedemoves

    This guy has SERIOUS dance skills! And the owner of the Twitter handle sets them to song suggestions that people make. Anyway there’s a lot of fun ones on there plus you can tell he’s so bored he just had to cut loose.

    And if anyone knows who the original soldier is, I’d like to know.

    EDIT: I was wrong. They’re requests. It’s still worth checking out!

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    @JAFD

    Bet you could get away with using celery seed (which should readily be findable in most any market). If dedicated could shmush it in a mortar & pestle or coffee grinder but as is would probably work nearly as well.

  20. 20.

    germy

    They’re talking about Alexander Woollcott over at LGM (or they were, anyway) and it reminded me of Robert Benchley.

    Someone uploaded one of his last radio performances (ten days before his death).

    Reading one of his nonsensical essays (on Wagnerian operas), he starts at approximately the 15 minute mark:

    youtube.com/watch?v=r4t_42TVDrc

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    I have three new distractions on Youtube. They have kept me going during the Pandemic:

     

    1. Animals finding good homes videos from The Dodo
    2. Guy named Matt who does reviews of RVs (Matt’s RV Reviews). I found his channel when he had less than 20,000 subscribers, and now he’s closing in on 60,000.
    3. There’s an sub-genre of Youtubers of Black people listening to music that’s ‘ non-traditional’ for Black people. The reviewers are on the young side-20 somethings to early 30’s. Watching them hear Pavarotti, Sinatra, Nina Simone, Tom Jones, Aerosmith, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers for the first time…it’s just a lot of fun.
  23. 23.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    Waiting is hard.  After 2 years of misery at a job, I found out my contract for the fall was not being renewed a week into Covid.  I accepted a new job yesterday. I am trying to remember what not being miserable is like.  I am getting there.  Cheers, all!

  32. 32.

    Princess Leia

    I love the Brooks Falls Bears channel on YT. Especially Otis, the Zen bear!

  34. 34.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Dropping this here for zhena gogolia:

    Some personal news: I will be leaving the New York Times crossword section. Not as a writer, just as a player. You can only use epee so many times before it reeks of laziness.

    — Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) July 14, 2020

  35. 35.

    HumboldtBlue

    @rikyrah:

    There’s an sub-genre of Youtubers of Black people listening to music that’s ‘ non-traditional’ for Black people. The reviewers are on the young side-20 somethings to early 30’s. Watching them hear Pavarotti, Sinatra, Nina Simone, Tom Jones, Aerosmith, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers for the first time…it’s just a lot of fun.

    I’ve fallen into this rabbit hole as well. Some of them are poor, but Jamal I really like, he seem genuine and he can even sing a li’l bit

  38. 38.

    oldster

    For the jazz  fans among you:

    I recently discovered the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, a group of high-school (and younger) kids in Barcelona who are being trained to keep jazz alive.

    Amazing performances of classics Gilberto and Jobim material, plus standards from the American Songbook. Here’s a performance of “Triste”:

    youtube.com/watch?v=xiJlAE2sfQc

    And the kids are so good! Each one more talented than the last.

    In addition — this video of them playing Dixieland in a town square with people dancing in the sunshine will make you nostalgic for life before the pandemic — and life after it, in a non-dysfunctional countries:

    youtube.com/watch?v=Uj5Q7w_HQSY

  42. 42.

    piratedan

    out on You Tube, I would humbly suggest the TRY channel, where you have a lovely assortment of Irish characters ‘trying” any number of things and offering their opinions on everything from gas station snacks to booze from various entities around the world.

  44. 44.

    Noskilz

    Fever The Ghost’s “Source” animated video is playfully surreal – mysterious gnome manages the seasons of space disco.

    “Life is life” by Opus is a fun enthusiastically silly video from 1985 – some ne’er do wells visit a concert and decide to be less jerky.

    Wednesday Campanella’s “Aladdin” is incredibly catchy, visually striking, and even has English subtitle which you may not be expecting from something involving a bowling alley employee singing about hardware.

    “Move your feet” by Junior Senior is a fun pixel art animated classic

  46. 46.

    ema

    Opossum joey crawling out of pouch on to mom’s back at Critter Vision (once mom leaves @ 4:44, don’t watch past that. Nothing bad happens, just a tribute to a different critter.)

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl: 

    WG, please stash this wonderful thread some place where any of us can easily retrieve it whenever we feel the need. Thank you!

  53. 53.

    Joy in FL

    I love the video of the cockatoo who loves Elvis. The comments on YouTube were funny. One said: “Extrovert and introvert at party.”

    What a good topic this thread is. Thanks to everybody who contributes.

    Here’s mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=18&v=o1s6YElshcM

    It’s a cute bird playing peekaboo. I probably got it in the past from someone here on BJ; it’s on my bookmark bar because I love it.

  55. 55.

    raven

    I’m trying to do at least ONE constructive thing a day. Today I went to physical therapy @ 7am, walked 1 1/4 miles after that. Put an hear shield on the starter of my truck to combat “heat soak” which causes the starter not to function after driving a distance. I did Lil Bit’s morning eyes which takes 30 minutes. Took apart, cleaned and lubed two expensive fishing reels that were dirty. The weekly farm fresh delivery just came so I’ll cook fresh pole beans and spuds along with butterbeans and maters. The only crappy thing is that I signed up for that deal for a year of the “Peacock Network. It premiers today but NO Roku!!!!! I cancelled Hulu and thought I’d have it all day today but it went off this morning so we’re half way through season 5 of Prime Suspect!

  56. 56.

    raven

    @HumboldtBlue: Try Spike Lee’s He Got Game intro with Aaron Copeland

     

    “When Spike Lee decided to score his basketball drama He Got Game with the music of Aaron Copland, it was an unusually bold move, even for an unusually bold director. Copland’s music has always been associated with the American heartland. Just take a look at the track titles on the soundtrack: “The Open Prairie,” “Appalachian Spring,” “John Henry,” “Lincoln Portrait,” “Hoe-Down.” Yes, Copland was a film composer, but for movies about rural or small-town white folks, like Of Mice and Men and Our Town. He Got Game is a movie about African-American basketball players growing up in the Coney Island projects.”

  59. 59.

    Yutsano

    @NotMax Celery seed will work just fine. JAFD can even check if it’s already ground. I want to say it’s a very fine seed anyway.

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dmsilev:

    Comic Curmudgeon

    I was just trying to remember the name of the site that used to mock the “serious” comic strips: Mary Worth, Apartment 3-G, I think there were a few more. Man, that’s falling into two or three different wayback machines.

  63. 63.

    LuciaMia

    You can only use epee so many times before it reeks of laziness.

    LOL. Ditto “Elia” (Elia Kazan)

  65. 65.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Well, having rediscovered Comics Curmudgeon my day it pretty much over while I try to figure out when Funky Winkerbean turned into some weird sentimental soap opera.

  68. 68.

    Gin & Tonic

    @LuciaMia:  Way back when I used to ride the train and do the crossword I remember “adit” and “aril” coming up way too often.

  69. 69.

    WaterGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne:   Happy to.  I stashed it under No Cabin Fever For Us, the 4th one down.

    I had already put it as the 2nd item in the hamburger menu on mobile so it would be easy for TaMara to find.

  72. 72.

    piratedan

    I guess I should also mention that gocomics.com still has oodles of daily comics that are still running but also older archived titles that would allow you to browse art styles and snark level to find the right creator that speaks to you.

  73. 73.

    Miss Bianca

    @Betty Cracker: We have a hummingbird nest in one of our outdoor lamps – we were so stoked to see it! Anyway, haven’t seen the chicks yet, just mama sitting on the brood. We haven’t wanted to get *too* close, for fear of harassing wildlife on our own property!

  74. 74.

    prostratedragon

    @Marcopolo:  Reminds me of when I was swimming some lazy laps in an open area of a community pool, and discovered that I was a shark. “Look out, here comes the shark!” (Actually, I’d have thought some kind of cetacean, or a large seal.)

  75. 75.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Beta reader feedback is starting to come back for I’m Late For Alchemy Class.  Everybody likes the super smart girl.  “BUT WHAT ABOUT TONIKA” is the overwhelming response.  I think I’m going to have to write her a book next.

  76. 76.

    Miss Bianca

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop: I don’t even know what Assassin’s Creed is, but not since the Killer Bunny have there been more adorable assassins.

    @germy: I just saw Robert Benchley in Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent the other night. He was awesome.

  77. 77.

    Frankensteinbeck

    And while we’re recommending comics, here is a webcomic that is not as dark as the name suggests, but is wonderfully weird, like its own mythological world.  And here is a webcomic that is much, much darker than the name suggests.  Pretty damn dark.  But lush and convoluted and beautifully illustrated and with cool ideas and I love the main character.

    ETA – Hell with it, might as well go all in.  Here is a webcomic that is absolutely correctly named.  Kill Six Billion Demons has a lot of demons in it.  And angels.  And corrupt, evil cities floating in the interdimensional voice.  And then it gets weirder than that.

  79. 79.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Chacal Charles Calthrop: I call shenanigans. The human assassin is clearly Ezio Auditore, who was an assassin in Italy during the Renaissance – while the soliders are more 18th-19th century french soldiers. It makes no sense! :)

    Kittens, as always, are timeless.

  81. 81.

    Ruckus

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:

    Nice.

    I’ve mostly worked for myself all my working life, which this still is at 71, but still have had actual jobs, like I do now, and have also felt the joy and despair of losing and gaining new employment, and a congratulations is absolutely in order.

  82. 82.

    Joy in FL

    I thought of some more YouTube videos that I used to show my 6th and 7th grade students. The videos were creative, beautiful, sweet, or a mix of the three.

    an ad for Sony Brava TV from about 2007: youtube.com/watch?v=5IqGlnrbc3Q

    behind the scenes for the Sony TV ad: youtube.com/watch?v=4vjuq-oQqdw

    an ad for TalkTalk (I think it was a cell phone service in England, early 2000s)  youtube.com/watch?v=gDnJb5eQHlw

    hand shadow puppets and Louis Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World:” youtube.com/watch?v=NZ5MJqB9myA

  83. 83.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Holding TaMara, her father and family in my thoughts.

    In the meantime, I’ve been down the “first time hearing” rabbit hole on YouTube, where Zoomers listen to “classic” songs for the first time. The most enjoyable of this genre are where the listeners pause during the songs to share the thoughts running through their heads.

    The these twin brothers are particular engaging, with the repartee between them. Their first listen to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” for the first time, is especially fun.

  85. 85.

    patrick II

    I played too much pool when I was a kid.  Anyhow, my favorite player is Efren Reyes, a poor kid from the Philippines who became the world’s greatest pool player with over 500 lifetime wins.  He became known as the Magician.  Anyhow, he was most famous for escape shots when opponents shot safeties.  It earned him the name of the Magician.  He hit shotsno one had ever seen before.

  92. 92.

    Emma

    Ann Reardon’s channel How to Cook That (She’s a food scientist, so I subscribed to watch her debunking videos, but everything is excellent too)

    Bardcore videos (my favorite channel, along with Hildegard von Blingin’): I tried my best to explain this suddenly popular genre to Erik at LGM, and the best I can come up with is that it’s millennial irony that’s wholesome enough to show parents and kids. How can you not laugh at the Billie Jean tapestry that’s like “Ser Michael pls” “Nay! The child is not my blood!”

    Sadly, I think they’ve quit making videos, but the BirgirPall duo made the funniest “We Broke” videos of videogames where they would just find all the hilarious bugs that big developers couldn’t be bothered to test or fix (I think they themselves were developers and involved in quality control testing, so they knew how to find the best bugs. Be Best.)

    Quite a new channel, but MaMah is basically reaction videos with Mexican moms. “We don’t use the chancla to hurt them [their kids], we use it to put FEAR in them.”

    Andrew Cotter, the guy who became quarantine-famous with his commentary on the Olive-Mabel rivalry, has continued to upload great comedy videos with them

    Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged is definitely my favorite out of the abridged genre. The audio quality and everything else improves as the series goes on (episode 1 was made in way back in 2009, when nobody knew who littlekuriboh was), but the show has so many funny lines. “Stop developing your characters, we have card games to play!”

    Last but not least, QPark, if you like cringe-funny videos. His thing is to go to all the touristy places around Manhattan looking like a banker, and then suddenly busting out really bad singing and/or choreography from music videos. I linked to his Billie Eilish video, but he has everything from Lady Gaga to Cardi B to Bad Bunny to BlackPink.

  96. 96.

    cain

    @rikyrah: There’s an sub-genre of Youtubers of Black people listening to music that’s ‘ non-traditional’ for Black people. The reviewers are on the young side-20 somethings to early 30’s. Watching them hear Pavarotti, Sinatra, Nina Simone, Tom Jones, Aerosmith, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers for the first time…it’s just a lot of fun.

    I must know this site! I need to share it with my girlfriend – first time she met me she looked at my music collection and thought “yep, white boy music” I was like.. puh-leeese. But she would get a kick out of it. :)

  97. 97.

    cain

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:

    Congratulations! I got hired for a job back in December and boy it feels so good to be paid well but also just enjoying the work – plus they let me do all the community stuff I was doing before and are enthusiastic about it. They are keepers.

  98. 98.

    CaseyL

    I’ve been working, and so have been unable to contribute to this wonderful topic. If the thread isn’t quite dead yet, here’s one of my favorite pallett-cleansers: zeFrank.

    People who haunt YouTube may remember zeFrank as the voice behind the “True Facts About [     ]” series, about animals, bugs, and whatever else attracted his fancy.  The videos were humorous, snarky, often lewd and, in the beginning, rarely factual.  Later episodes were more factual, but retained the humor and snark.

    Or people may know him by his “Dear Diary’ series, one for dogs and one for cats.  (And he had a gig for a while with a cat food company, doing voice over commercials titled “Dear Kitten.”)

    He took some time off, but has come back to do more True Facts, which makes me very happy.

  99. 99.

    J R in WV

    @Old Dan and Little Ann:

    Waiting is hard. After 2 years of misery at a job, I found out my contract for the fall was not being renewed a week into Covid. I accepted a new job yesterday. I am trying to remember what not being miserable is like. I am getting there. Cheers, all!

    Years ago I was working for a dickwad in a state agency doing software development. A sometimes coworker and friend who knew the dickwad asked me “why are you still working for that dickwad?” I said, “Well, he hasn’t pissed me off that bad so far… he knows he needs me as badly as I need the job.”

    Then I interviewed with a consulting firm that was placing software folks in a local big deal firm, was offered a place, held off, held off. Then dickwad pissed me off bad one Monday morning.

    I cleared my desk, which dickwad noticed, but kept walking past, called the body shop, told them I was in. Wednesday I gave 2 weeks notice, had that much vacation, so took it. Went to a local shushi place, spent $90 on lunch, drove home VERY carefully. Started a week later on a gig that lasted 4 years. Doubled my take home, too!

    Congrats on your new job!! I hope you like the coworkers, that they hold up their share of the job and treat you right! What a relief, to land a new job during this end of the world event!!!

    I’m glad to be so old I’m retired, have been for years now. Hang in there, everyone!

  104. 104.

    Albatrossity

    If you need a new pretty picture for your computer wallpaper, you might be able to find something on my portfolio website. If you do find something, just let me know the name of the pic you like and the dimensions needed (width x height, in pixels), and I will send you an image file sized to those dimensions. For free. Contact information can be found on the site.

    As with anything free, you may have to wait a while for me to get around to doing what I need to do, depending on other things going on in my life at the time. But the offer is good to all jackals.

  105. 105.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @cain: I don’t know that there’s a specific site, as much as a bunch of videos on YouTube. The twins mentioned in the link I posted at 83 have lots of songs, and the suggested videos will led you to others.

    Or you can just Google for “first listen [song title]”.

  110. 110.

    frosty

    @raven: I’m trying to do at least ONE constructive thing a day.

    This is my retirement career, apparently. I decided to count driving my wife to PT* since it takes up at least 3 hours. Other than that, cleaned out the garage, made a run to the dump, got started on the basement, picked up the guitar again…. that’s about a month’s worth.

    * Double knee replacement three weeks ago. The therapist says she’s ahead of the curve for anyone she’s seen,  either one or both knees. I have fewer Home Health Aide responsibilities every day!

  112. 112.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @Miss Bianca: “Assassins Creed” is a video game that runs with the schtick that since a secret assassins guild intervenes in every era, each new video game can be set in a different historical period back to the crusades.
    It was sold to Hollywood and made into a bad movie whose principle virtue consisted of a lot of footage of a shirtless Michael Fassbender.

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